By Alexis Huicochea
Arizona Daily Star
July 15, 2006
A 17-year-old boy who ran away from a VisionQuest facility in Elfrida on Tuesday had to be arrested by a SWAT team after he returned with a shotgun and fired it into the air.
John Morgan Gatlin was booked into the Cochise County juvenile detention center on suspicion of assault, burglary, theft and criminal damage, according to a news release.
Gatlin told police he got the shotgun from the room of a VisionQuest employee, Cochise County sheriff's spokeswoman Carol Capas said Friday. The employee was fired.
VisionQuest is a program for juvenile delinquents that is an alternative to incarceration.
The incident occurred Tuesday around 8:15 p.m. when the Sheriff's Department received word that Gatlin had left the facility about 80 miles southeast of Tucson without permission, according to the news release.
Staff members followed him into the Swisshelm Mountains heading southeast of the Elfrida facility until losing sight of the teen as he took off his shirt and continued on, the release said.
Just after 10 p.m., VisionQuest staffers reported that Gatlin had returned and was outside one of the housing units with a weapon, the news release said. Staff members were approaching the teen when he ordered them to stay away and fired a single round into the air.
The staff then allowed Gatlin to leave the facility, the release said.
The U.S. Border Patrol, Cochise County sheriff's deputies and the Cochise County SWAT team began searching for Gatlin, the release said. During that time, officials received word that the teen had called his mother and told her what was going on, and that he was armed. Soon thereafter, he was found hiding under some brush, the release said.
No injuries were reported, Capas said.
Mark Contento, executive vice president of VisionQuest's western office based in Tucson, said he was glad the incident ended peacefully but was disappointed that a staff member chose to violate policy by having a weapon on the property.
"It was a violation of policy, and it was totally inappropriate," Contento said. "We deal with kids and we have a responsibility to them, so we expect our staff to act responsibly.
"Fortunately, everything ended peacefully and all of the kids, staff and community were safe throughout the incident."
Contact reporter Alexis Huicochea at 629-9412 or ahuicochea@azstarnet.com.
